Asymmetric bandwidth support and dynamic bandwidth adjustment

ABSTRACT

This disclosure relates to techniques for supporting asymmetric uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations for a wireless device, and for dynamically modifying the bandwidth allocations for a wireless device, in a wireless communication system. A cellular communication link may be established between a base station and a wireless device. The base station may determine an uplink bandwidth allocation and a downlink bandwidth allocation for the wireless device. The uplink bandwidth allocation and the downlink bandwidth allocation may be selected based on different criteria and may include different amounts of bandwidth. Indications of the uplink bandwidth allocation and the downlink bandwidth allocation may be provided to the wireless device. The base station and wireless device may communicate according to the uplink bandwidth allocation and the downlink bandwidth allocation.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. No. 10,595,319, formerlyU.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/571,577, entitled “AsymmetricBandwidth Support and Dynamic Bandwidth Adjustment,” filed Nov. 3, 2017,which is a U.S. National Stage of International Application No.PCT/CN2016/104799 filed on Nov. 5, 2016. All of the above-identifiedapplications and patents are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentireties as though fully and completely set forth herein.

The claims in the instant application are different than those of theparent application or other related applications. The Applicanttherefore rescinds any disclaimer of claim scope made in the parentapplication or any predecessor application in relation to the instantapplication. The Examiner is therefore advised that any such previousdisclaimer and the cited references that it was made to avoid, may needto be revisited. Further, any disclaimer made in the instant applicationshould not be read into or against the parent application or otherrelated applications.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates to wireless communication, including totechniques for supporting asymmetric uplink and downlink bandwidth in awireless communication system.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

Wireless communication systems are rapidly growing in usage. Further,wireless communication technology has evolved from voice-onlycommunications to also include the transmission of data, such asInternet and multimedia content.

Mobile electronic devices may take the form of smart phones or tabletsthat a user typically carries. Wearable devices (also referred to asaccessory devices) are a newer form of mobile electronic device, oneexample being smart watches. Additionally, low-cost low-complexitywireless devices intended for stationary or nomadic deployment are alsoproliferating as part of the developing “Internet of Things”. Many suchdevices have relatively limited wireless communications capabilities andtypically have smaller batteries than larger portable devices, such assmart phones and tablets. In general, it would be desirable to recognizeand provide support for the relatively limited wireless communicationcapabilities of such devices. Therefore, improvements in the field aredesired.

SUMMARY

Embodiments are presented herein of, inter alia, systems, apparatuses,and methods for supporting dynamically adjustable and potentiallyasymmetric bandwidth for uplink and downlink communication in a wirelesscommunication system.

The communication needs of a wireless device may, at least in someinstances, vary over time. For example, at certain times a wirelessdevice might communicate minimal if any data, while at other times thewireless device might communicate large amounts of data. Additionally,at least in some instances, the balance of uplink and downlinkcommunication by a wireless device may be relatively equal at sometimes, and may differ substantially at other times.

In view of such variable communication characteristics, wireless devicesand cellular networks generally may benefit from supporting flexible andpotentially asymmetric uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations. Thisdisclosure presents various techniques for a cellular base station andwireless device to communicate in a manner that supports suchdynamically adjustable and potentially asymmetric uplink and bandwidthallocations.

Such techniques may benefit wireless devices, at least according to someembodiments, by allowing them to configure their radio components forrelatively wide- or narrow-band communication, as appropriate to thecurrent uplink and band downlink bandwidth allocations provided by theirserving cells, and thereby to operate in a potentially morepower-efficient manner. Such techniques may also or alternativelybenefit cellular networks generally by allowing more efficient overalluse of radio resources, as adjusting the bandwidth allocation downwardfor one device may generally free resources to adjust the bandwidthallocation upward for another device, and vice versa.

The techniques described herein may be implemented in and/or used with anumber of different types of devices, including but not limited tocellular phones, tablet computers, accessory and/or wearable computingdevices, portable media players, cellular base stations and othercellular network infrastructure equipment, servers, and any of variousother computing devices.

This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of thesubject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it will beappreciated that the above-described features are merely examples andshould not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subjectmatter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, andadvantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparentfrom the following Detailed Description, Figures, and Claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present subject matter can be obtainedwhen the following detailed description of the embodiments is consideredin conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system including anaccessory device, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system where an accessory device canselectively either directly communicate with a cellular base station orutilize the cellular capabilities of an intermediate or proxy devicesuch as a smart phone, according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example wireless device,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example base station,according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a communication flow diagram illustrating an exemplary methodfor dynamically selecting uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations fora wireless device with support for asymmetric uplink and downlinkbandwidth allocations, according to some embodiments; and

FIG. 6 is an exemplary portion of a table illustrating possiblesupported maximum uplink and downlink channel bandwidths for certaindevice categories, according to some embodiments.

While the features described herein are susceptible to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof areshown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described indetail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detaileddescription thereto are not intended to be limiting to the particularform disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Acronyms

The following acronyms are used in the present disclosure.

3GPP: Third Generation Partnership Project

3GPP2: Third Generation Partnership Project 2

GSM: Global System for Mobile Communications

UMTS: Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

LTE: Long Term Evolution

Terminology

The following are definitions of terms used in this disclosure:

Memory Medium—Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices orstorage devices. The term “memory medium” is intended to include aninstallation medium, e.g., a CD-ROM, floppy disks, or tape device; acomputer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM,SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM, etc.; a non-volatile memory such as a Flash,magnetic media, e.g., a hard drive, or optical storage; registers, orother similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium mayinclude other types of non-transitory memory as well or combinationsthereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a firstcomputer system in which the programs are executed, or may be located ina second different computer system which connects to the first computersystem over a network, such as the Internet. In the latter instance, thesecond computer system may provide program instructions to the firstcomputer for execution. The term “memory medium” may include two or morememory mediums which may reside in different locations, e.g., indifferent computer systems that are connected over a network. The memorymedium may store program instructions (e.g., embodied as computerprograms) that may be executed by one or more processors.

Carrier Medium—a memory medium as described above, as well as a physicaltransmission medium, such as a bus, network, and/or other physicaltransmission medium that conveys signals such as electrical,electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Programmable Hardware Element—includes various hardware devicescomprising multiple programmable function blocks connected via aprogrammable interconnect. Examples include FPGAs (Field ProgrammableGate Arrays), PLDs (Programmable Logic Devices), FPOAs (FieldProgrammable Object Arrays), and CPLDs (Complex PLDs). The programmablefunction blocks may range from fine grained (combinatorial logic or lookup tables) to coarse grained (arithmetic logic units or processorcores). A programmable hardware element may also be referred to as“reconfigurable logic”.

Computer System—any of various types of computing or processing systems,including a personal computer system (PC), mainframe computer system,workstation, network appliance, Internet appliance, personal digitalassistant (PDA), television system, grid computing system, or otherdevice or combinations of devices. In general, the term “computersystem” can be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combinationof devices) having at least one processor that executes instructionsfrom a memory medium.

User Equipment (UE) (or “UE Device”)—any of various types of computersystems devices which are mobile or portable and which performs wirelesscommunications. Examples of UE devices include mobile telephones orsmart phones (e.g., iPhone™, Android™-based phones), portable gamingdevices (e.g., Nintendo DS™, PlayStation Portable™, Gameboy Advance™,iPhone™), laptops, wearable devices (e.g. smart watch, smart glasses),PDAs, portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, orother handheld devices, etc. In general, the term “UE” or “UE device”can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/ortelecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easilytransported by a user and capable of wireless communication.

Wireless Device—any of various types of computer system devices whichperforms wireless communications. A wireless device can be portable (ormobile) or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is anexample of a wireless device.

Communication Device—any of various types of computer systems or devicesthat perform communications, where the communications can be wired orwireless. A communication device can be portable (or mobile) or may bestationary or fixed at a certain location. A wireless device is anexample of a communication device. A UE is another example of acommunication device.

Base Station—The term “Base Station” (also called “eNB”) has the fullbreadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wirelesscommunication station installed at a fixed location and used tocommunicate as part of a wireless cellular communication system.

Link Budget Limited—includes the full breadth of its ordinary meaning,and at least includes a characteristic of a wireless device (e.g., a UE)which exhibits limited communication capabilities, or limited power,relative to a device that is not link budget limited, or relative todevices for which a radio access technology (RAT) standard has beendeveloped. A wireless device that is link budget limited may experiencerelatively limited reception and/or transmission capabilities, which maybe due to one or more factors such as device design, device size,battery size, antenna size or design, transmit power, receive power,current transmission medium conditions, and/or other factors. Suchdevices may be referred to herein as “link budget limited” (or “linkbudget constrained”) devices. A device may be inherently link budgetlimited due to its size, battery power, and/or transmit/receive power.For example, a smart watch that is communicating over LTE or LTE-A witha base station may be inherently link budget limited due to its reducedtransmit/receive power and/or reduced antenna. Wearable devices, such assmart watches, are generally link budget limited devices. Alternatively,a device may not be inherently link budget limited, e.g., may havesufficient size, battery power, and/or transmit/receive power for normalcommunications over LTE or LTE-A, but may be temporarily link budgetlimited due to current communication conditions, e.g., a smart phonebeing at the edge of a cell, etc. It is noted that the term “link budgetlimited” includes or encompasses power limitations, and thus a powerlimited device may be considered a link budget limited device.

Processing Element (or Processor)—refers to various elements orcombinations of elements. Processing elements include, for example,circuits such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit),portions or circuits of individual processor cores, entire processorcores, individual processors, programmable hardware devices such as afield programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or larger portions of systemsthat include multiple processors.

Automatically—refers to an action or operation performed by a computersystem (e.g., software executed by the computer system) or device (e.g.,circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASICs, etc.), without userinput directly specifying or performing the action or operation. Thusthe term “automatically” is in contrast to an operation being manuallyperformed or specified by the user, where the user provides input todirectly perform the operation. An automatic procedure may be initiatedby input provided by the user, but the subsequent actions that areperformed “automatically” are not specified by the user, i.e., are notperformed “manually”, where the user specifies each action to perform.For example, a user filling out an electronic form by selecting eachfield and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typinginformation, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) is fillingout the form manually, even though the computer system must update theform in response to the user actions. The form may be automaticallyfilled out by the computer system where the computer system (e.g.,software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of theform and fills in the form without any user input specifying the answersto the fields. As indicated above, the user may invoke the automaticfilling of the form, but is not involved in the actual filling of theform (e.g., the user is not manually specifying answers to fields butrather they are being automatically completed). The presentspecification provides various examples of operations beingautomatically performed in response to actions the user has taken.

Configured to—Various components may be described as “configured to”perform a task or tasks. In such contexts, “configured to” is a broadrecitation generally meaning “having structure that” performs the taskor tasks during operation. As such, the component can be configured toperform the task even when the component is not currently performingthat task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors may be configured toelectrically connect a module to another module, even when the twomodules are not connected). In some contexts, “configured to” may be abroad recitation of structure generally meaning “having circuitry that”performs the task or tasks during operation. As such, the component canbe configured to perform the task even when the component is notcurrently on. In general, the circuitry that forms the structurecorresponding to “configured to” may include hardware circuits.

Various components may be described as performing a task or tasks, forconvenience in the description. Such descriptions should be interpretedas including the phrase “configured to.” Reciting a component that isconfigured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended not toinvoke 35 U.S.C. § 112, paragraph six, interpretation for thatcomponent.

FIGS. 1-2—Wireless Communication System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless cellular communicationsystem. It is noted that FIG. 1 represents one possibility among many,and that features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any ofvarious systems, as desired. For example, embodiments described hereinmay be implemented in any type of wireless device.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes acellular base station 102, which communicates over a transmission mediumwith one or more wireless devices 106A, 106B, etc., as well as accessorydevice 107. Wireless devices 106A, 106B, and 107 may be user devices,which may be referred to herein as “user equipment” (UE) or UE devices.

The base station 102 may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or cellsite, and may include hardware that enables wireless communication withthe UE devices 106A, 106B, and 107. The base station 102 may also beequipped to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of acellular service provider, a telecommunication network such as a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), and/or the Internet, among variouspossibilities). Thus, the base station 102 may facilitate communicationamong the UE devices 106 and 107 and/or between the UE devices 106/107and the network 100. In other implementations, base station 102 can beconfigured to provide communications over one or more other wirelesstechnologies, such as an access point supporting one or more WLANprotocols, such as 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac, ad, and/or ax, or LTE in anunlicensed band (LAA).

The communication area (or coverage area) of the base station 102 may bereferred to as a “cell.” The base station 102 and the UEs 106/107 may beconfigured to communicate over the transmission medium using any ofvarious radio access technologies (RATs) or wireless communicationtechnologies, such as GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDS-CDMA), LTE, LTE-Advanced(LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1×RTT, 1×EV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD),Wi-Fi, WiMAX etc.

Base station 102 and other similar base stations (not shown) operatingaccording to one or more cellular communication technologies may thus beprovided as a network of cells, which may provide continuous or nearlycontinuous overlapping service to UE devices 106A-N and 107 and similardevices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communicationtechnologies.

Note that at least in some instances a UE device 106/107 may be capableof communicating using any of multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, a UE device 106/107 might be configured tocommunicate using one or more of GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, WiMAX, LTE, LTE-A,WLAN, Bluetooth, one or more global navigational satellite systems(GNSS, e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one and/or more mobile televisionbroadcasting standards (e.g., ATSC-M/H), etc. Other combinations ofwireless communication technologies (including more than two wirelesscommunication technologies) are also possible. Likewise, in someinstances a UE device 106/107 may be configured to communicate usingonly a single wireless communication technology.

The UEs 106A and 106B are typically handheld devices such as smartphones or tablets, but may be any of various types of device withcellular communications capability. For example, one or more of the UEs106A and 106B may be a wireless device intended for stationary ornomadic deployment such as an appliance, measurement device, controldevice, etc. The UE 106B may be configured to communicate with the UEdevice 107, which may be referred to as an accessory device 107. Theaccessory device 107 may be any of various types of wireless devices,typically a wearable device that has a smaller form factor, and may havelimited battery, output power and/or communications abilities relativeto UEs 106. As one common example, the UE 106B may be a smart phonecarried by a user, and the accessory device 107 may be a smart watchworn by that same user. The UE 106B and the accessory device 107 maycommunicate using any of various short range communication protocols,such as Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.

The accessory device 107 includes cellular communication capability andhence is able to directly communicate with cellular base station 102.However, since the accessory device 107 is possibly one or more ofcommunication, output power and/or battery limited, the accessory device107 may in some instances selectively utilize the UE 106B as a proxy forcommunication purposes with the base station 102 and hence to thenetwork 100. In other words, the accessory device 107 may selectivelyuse the cellular communication capabilities of the UE 106B to conductits cellular communications. The limitation on communication abilitiesof the accessory device 107 can be permanent, e.g., due to limitationsin output power or the radio access technologies (RATs) supported, ortemporary, e.g., due to conditions such as current battery status,inability to access a network, or poor reception.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example accessory device 107 in communication withbase station 102. The accessory device 107 may be a wearable device suchas a smart watch. The accessory device 107 may comprise cellularcommunication capability and be capable of directly communicating withthe base station 102 as shown. When the accessory device 107 isconfigured to directly communicate with the base station, the accessorydevice may be said to be in “autonomous mode.”

The accessory device 107 may also be capable of communicating withanother device (e.g., UE 106), referred to as a proxy device orintermediate device, using a short range communications protocol; forexample, the accessory device 107 may according to some embodiments be“paired” with the UE 106. Under some circumstances, the accessory device107 may use the cellular functionality of this proxy device forcommunicating cellular voice/data with the base station 102. In otherwords, the accessory device 107 may provide voice/data packets intendedfor the base station 102 over the short range link to the UE 106, andthe UE 106 may use its cellular functionality to transmit (or relay)this voice/data to the base station on behalf of the accessory device107. Similarly, the voice/data packets transmitted by the base stationand intended for the accessory device 107 may be received by thecellular functionality of the UE 106 and then may be relayed over theshort range link to the accessory device. As noted above, the UE 106 maybe a mobile phone, a tablet, or any other type of hand-held device, amedia player, a computer, a laptop or virtually any type of wirelessdevice. When the accessory device 107 is configured to indirectlycommunicate with the base station using the cellular functionality of anintermediate or proxy device, the accessory device may be said to be in“relay mode.”

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include a device or integrated circuit forfacilitating cellular communication, referred to as a cellular modem.The cellular modem may include one or more processors (processingelements) and various hardware components as described herein. The UE106 and/or 107 may perform any of the method embodiments describedherein by executing instructions on one or more programmable processors.Alternatively, or in addition, the one or more processors may be one ormore programmable hardware elements such as an FPGA (field-programmablegate array), or other circuitry, that is configured to perform any ofthe method embodiments described herein, or any portion of any of themethod embodiments described herein. The cellular modem described hereinmay be used in a UE device as defined herein, a wireless device asdefined herein, or a communication device as defined herein. Thecellular modem described herein may also be used in a base station orother similar network side device.

The UE 106 and/or 107 may include one or more antennas for communicatingusing two or more wireless communication protocols or radio accesstechnologies. In some embodiments, the UE device 106/107 might beconfigured to communicate using a single shared radio. The shared radiomay couple to a single antenna, or may couple to multiple antennas(e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Alternatively,the UE device 106/107 may include two or more radios. Otherconfigurations are also possible.

The accessory device 107 may be any of various types of devices that, insome embodiments, have a smaller form factor relative to a conventionalsmart phone, and may have one or more of limited communicationcapabilities, limited output power, or limited battery life relative toa conventional smart phone. As noted above, in some embodiments, theaccessory device 107 is a smart watch or other type of wearable device.As another example, the accessory device 107 may be a tablet device,such as an iPad, with Wi-Fi capabilities (and possibly limited or nocellular communication capabilities), which is not currently near aWi-Fi hotspot and hence is not currently able to communicate over Wi-Fiwith the Internet. Thus, as defined above, the term “accessory device”refers to any of various types of devices that in some instances havelimited or reduced communication capabilities and hence may selectivelyand opportunistically utilize the UE 106 as a proxy for communicationpurposes for one or more applications and/or RATs. When the UE 106 iscapable of being used by the accessory device 107 as a proxy, the UE 106may be referred to as a companion device to the accessory device 107.

FIG. 3—Block Diagram of a UE Device

FIG. 3 illustrates one possible block diagram of an UE device, such asUE device 106 or 107. As shown, the UE device 106/107 may include asystem on chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions for variouspurposes. For example, as shown, the SOC 300 may include processor(s)302 which may execute program instructions for the UE device 106/107,and display circuitry 304 which may perform graphics processing andprovide display signals to the display 360. The SOC 300 may also includemotion sensing circuitry 370 which may detect motion of the UE 106, forexample using a gyroscope, accelerometer, and/or any of various othermotion sensing components. The processor(s) 302 may also be coupled tomemory management unit (MMU) 340, which may be configured to receiveaddresses from the processor(s) 302 and translate those addresses tolocations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read only memory (ROM) 350, flashmemory 310). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protectionand page table translation or set up. In some embodiments, the MMU 340may be included as a portion of the processor(s) 302.

As shown, the SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuits of the UE106/107. For example, the UE 106/107 may include various types of memory(e.g., including NAND flash 310), a connector interface 320 (e.g., forcoupling to a computer system, dock, charging station, etc.), thedisplay 360, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE,LTE-A, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.).

The UE device 106/107 may include at least one antenna, and in someembodiments multiple antennas 335 a and 335 b, for performing wirelesscommunication with base stations and/or other devices. For example, theUE device 106/107 may use antennas 335 a and 335 b to perform thewireless communication. As noted above, the UE device 106/107 may insome embodiments be configured to communicate wirelessly using aplurality of wireless communication standards or radio accesstechnologies (RATs).

The wireless communication circuitry 330 may include Wi-Fi Logic 332, aCellular Modem 334, and Bluetooth Logic 336. The Wi-Fi Logic 332 is forenabling the UE device 106/107 to perform Wi-Fi communications on an802.11 network. The Bluetooth Logic 336 is for enabling the UE device106/107 to perform Bluetooth communications. The cellular modem 334 maybe a lower power cellular modem capable of performing cellularcommunication according to one or more cellular communicationtechnologies.

As described herein, UE 106/107 may include hardware and softwarecomponents for implementing embodiments of this disclosure. For example,one or more components of the wireless communication circuitry 330(e.g., cellular modem 334) of the UE device 106/107 may be configured toimplement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by aprocessor executing program instructions stored on a memory medium(e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), a processorconfigured as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), and/or usingdedicated hardware components, which may include an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit).

FIG. 4—Block Diagram of a Base Station

FIG. 4 illustrates an example block diagram of a base station 102,according to some embodiments. It is noted that the base station of FIG.4 is merely one example of a possible base station. As shown, the basestation 102 may include processor(s) 404 which may execute programinstructions for the base station 102. The processor(s) 404 may also becoupled to memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured toreceive addresses from the processor(s) 404 and translate thoseaddresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read only memory(ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Thenetwork port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network andprovide a plurality of devices, such as UE devices 106/107, access tothe telephone network as described above in FIGS. 1 and 2.

The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also oralternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, e.g., acore network of a cellular service provider. The core network mayprovide mobility related services and/or other services to a pluralityof devices, such as UE devices 106/107. For example, the core networkmay include a mobility management entity (MME), e.g., for providingmobility management services, a serving gateway (SGW) and/or packet datanetwork gateway (PGW), e.g., for providing external data connectionssuch as to the Internet, etc. In some cases, the network port 470 maycouple to a telephone network via the core network, and/or the corenetwork may provide a telephone network (e.g., among other UE devicesserviced by the cellular service provider).

The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and possiblymultiple antennas. The antenna(s) 434 may be configured to operate as awireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate withUE devices 106/107 via radio 430. The antenna(s) 434 communicates withthe radio 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 maybe a receive chain, a transmit chain or both. The radio 430 may beconfigured to communicate via various wireless communication standards,including, but not limited to, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi,etc.

The base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly usingmultiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, the basestation 102 may include multiple radios, which may enable the basestation 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communicationtechnologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 mayinclude an LTE radio for performing communication according to LTE aswell as a Wi-Fi radio for performing communication according to Wi-Fi.In such a case, the base station 102 may be capable of operating as bothan LTE base station and a Wi-Fi access point. As another possibility,the base station 102 may include a multi-mode radio which is capable ofperforming communications according to any of multiple wirelesscommunication technologies (e.g., LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE andCDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

As described further subsequently herein, the BS 102 may includehardware and software components for implementing features describedherein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured toimplement part or all of the methods described herein, e.g., byexecuting program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., anon-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, theprocessor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, suchas an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), or as an ASIC (ApplicationSpecific Integrated Circuit), or a combination thereof. Alternatively(or in addition) the processor 404 of the BS 102, in conjunction withone or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470may be configured to implement or support implementation of part or allof the features described herein.

FIG. 5—Communication Flow Diagram

As cellular communication technologies evolve, an increasing number ofcellular communication capable devices are expected to be deployed. Oneof the reasons for the continuing increase in the numbers of devicesincludes the development and spread of devices performing machine typecommunication (MTC). Such devices, which may include stationary deployeddevices, wearable devices, and/or other devices forming part of the“Internet of Things”, may commonly be designed to perform frequentand/or periodic small data transmissions.

In view of the potentially more limited expected usage scenarios forsuch devices, devices primarily expected to perform MTC may commonly belower-complexity devices than many other common cellular devices (e.g.,handheld cellular phones, etc.), for example to reduce the size, cost ofmanufacture, and/or cost to the consumer of such devices. Accordingly,in many instances the communication capability (e.g., number of tx/rxantennas, number of RF chains, transmission power, battery capability,communication range, tx/rx peak data rates, supported bandwidth etc.) ofsuch devices may be relatively limited. For example, many such devicesmay be considered link budget limited devices.

This may present difficulties in a wireless communication system thatprimarily supports wireless devices with greater communicationcapability. Accordingly, at least some wireless communicationtechnologies are being revised and/or developed in a manner to supportlink budget limited devices (e.g., in addition to those wireless devicesthat are not link budget limited).

As one possible consideration relating to link budget limited devicesand more generally to wireless communication, in a communication systemwith variable bandwidth communication channels, such as LTE, there canbe a substantial difference in a wireless device's power consumptionwhen operating in a wideband communication mode (e.g., using a largeramount of bandwidth) versus when operating in a narrowband communicationmode (e.g., using a smaller amount of bandwidth). Additionally, thecommunication needs of a wireless device with respect to uplink anddownlink communication may not always be equal. Thus, at least in someinstances, it may improve any or all of the power consumption profile ofa wireless device, the total throughput of a wireless device, and/or theoverall communication system resource usage efficiency to dynamicallymanage the communication bandwidth of wireless device and to supportasymmetric bandwidth allocations for uplink and downlink communication.

Accordingly, FIG. 5 is a communication flow diagram illustrating amethod for separately allocating and dynamically adjusting the uplinkand downlink communication bandwidth of a wireless device, according tosome embodiments. In various embodiments, some of the elements of themethods shown may be performed concurrently, in a different order thanshown, may be substituted for by other method elements, or may beomitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired.

Aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may be implemented by a wireless device,such as a UE 106 or 107 illustrated in and described with respect toFIGS. 1-3 and/or a base station 102 such as illustrated in and describedwith respect to FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, or more generally in conjunction withany of the computer systems or devices shown in the above Figures, amongother devices, as desired. Note that while at least some elements of themethod of FIG. 5 are described in a manner relating to the use ofcommunication techniques and/or features associated with LTE and/or 3GPPspecification documents, such description is not intended to be limitingto the disclosure, and aspects of the method of FIG. 5 may be used inany suitable wireless communication system, as desired. As shown, themethod may operate as follows.

In 502, the wireless device and the base station may establish acellular communication link. For example, the base station may provide acell, and the wireless device may camp on the cell provided by the basestation (e.g., the cell may be a serving cell for the wireless device).To camp on the serving cell, the wireless device may detect that theserving cell exists, obtain timing synchronization and decode systeminformation for the serving cell, and attach to the cell (e.g., byperforming an attachment procedure), according to some embodiments. Asanother possibility, the wireless device may have initially camped on adifferent serving cell, but may have attached to the cell provided bythe base station as a result of a cell re-selection procedure or (e.g.,network assisted) handover procedure. The wireless device may operate inan idle mode (e.g., while a radio resource control (RRC) connection isnot established), and/or may operate in a connected mode (e.g., while aRRC connection is established), at various times while camping on theserving cell.

The communication link between the wireless device and the base stationmay provide the wireless device with a communicative link to a cellularnetwork, such as a core network of a cellular service provider (e.g.,with which a user of the wireless device may have a subscription and/orother agreement to provide cellular service). When operating inconnected mode with the serving cell, the cellular network may thusprovide connectivity between the user device and various services and/ordevices coupled to the cellular network, such as other user devices, apublic switched telephone network, the Internet, various cloud-basedservices, etc. A variety of possible data types, with differentcharacteristics, may be transmitted via the serving cell. In addition,various signaling messages may be exchanged at various times toestablish, maintain, reconfigure, and/or otherwise provide signalingfunctionality between the wireless device and the serving cell.

In 504, the base station may determine uplink and downlink bandwidthallocations for the wireless device. The uplink and downlink bandwidthallocations may be among the communication parameters of the cellularcommunication link. According to some embodiments, the uplink anddownlink bandwidth allocations, respectively, may represent the maximumbandwidths within which the base station will allocate radio resourcesto the wireless device for uplink and downlink communication,respectively, e.g., at least until the uplink and/or downlink bandwidthallocations are updated by the base station. The uplink and downlinkbandwidth allocations may be selected from a number of discretebandwidth allocation options, or may be selected from a continuous rangeof possible uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations, among variouspossibilities. For example, as one possibility, an LTE cell might selectbandwidth allocations for a wireless device among the various possiblesupported cell widths according to LTE up to the maximum bandwidth ofthe cell provided by the base station, e.g., among 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz. In some embodiments, the choices mayalso or alternatively be limited by a maximum operating bandwidth of thewireless device, e.g., based on its device category; for example, somewireless devices may be limited to a maximum of 5 MHz communicationbandwidth, according to some embodiments, in which case the bandwidthallocations might be selected from among 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, or 5 MHz. Anynumber of other possible granularities of uplink and downlink bandwidthallocation choices, e.g., according to LTE or other wirelesscommunication systems, are also possible.

Determining the uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations for thewireless device may be based on any of a variety of considerations.According to some embodiments, the uplink bandwidth allocation may bedetermined based on certain uplink bandwidth allocation selectioncriteria, while the downlink bandwidth allocation may be determinedbased on certain downlink bandwidth allocation selection criteria. Theuplink bandwidth allocation selection criteria may differ from thedownlink bandwidth allocation selection criteria, which may result inthe uplink bandwidth allocation differing from the downlink bandwidthallocation. For example, the amount of bandwidth allocated according tothe uplink bandwidth allocation may be a different amount of bandwidththan the amount of bandwidth allocated according to the downlinkbandwidth allocation.

According to some embodiments, the uplink and downlink bandwidthallocation selection criteria may include and/or be based on any or allof a device category (e.g., UL category, DL category, overall category,etc.) of the wireless device, expected upcoming uplink traffic amountsand/or patterns for the wireless device, expected upcoming downlinktraffic amounts and/or patterns for the wireless device, channel qualityinformation for the cellular communication link (e.g., relating toeither or both of an uplink communication channel or a downlinkcommunication channel of the cellular communication link), among variouspossibilities.

Some of the criteria for either or both of uplink and downlink bandwidthallocation selection may be based at least in part on informationreceived by the base station from the wireless device, according to someembodiments. For example, according to some embodiments, the wirelessdevice may occasionally and/or periodically provide a buffer statusreport (e.g., that the wireless device may generate and transmit to thebase station based on the amount of uplink data buffered by the wirelessdevice) that indicates the expected amount of upcoming uplink trafficfor the wireless device. As another example, the wireless device mayoccasionally and/or periodically perform cell measurements (e.g.,serving cell measurements, neighboring cell measurements, etc.) andprovide the results of those measurements (e.g., directly or as channelquality information generated based on those measurements, among variouspossibilities) to the base station.

Additionally or alternatively, some of the criteria for either or bothof uplink and downlink bandwidth allocation selection may be based atleast in part on information generated and/or stored by the basestation, according to some embodiments. For example, the base stationmay monitor the amount of downlink data buffered for the wireless deviceas an indication of the expected amount of upcoming downlink traffic forthe wireless device. As another example, the base station mayoccasionally and/or periodically perform measurements regarding thechannel quality of the communication link between the wireless deviceand the base station (e.g., using uplink sounding reference signals(SRS) and/or any of a variety of other possible techniques), and maydetermine the channel quality of the communication link based at leastin part on those measurements.

As one possibility, downlink bandwidth selection may be based on acombination of the device category of the wireless device (e.g., withrespect to downlink communications and/or in general, depending on thegranularity of device categorization available), the expected amount ofupcoming downlink traffic, and the channel quality of the cellularcommunication link (e.g., at least for downlink communications).

As another possibility, the uplink bandwidth selection may be based on acombination of the device category of the wireless device (e.g., withrespect to uplink communications and/or in general, depending on thegranularity of device categorization available), the expected amount ofupcoming uplink traffic, and the channel quality of the cellularcommunication link (e.g., at least for uplink communications).

Note that in some instances, some low complexity devices (e.g., LTERel-13 MTC devices, which may be referred to as category M1, and/or LTERel-14 MTC devices, which may be referred to as category M2, M3, oranother (e.g., as-yet-undetermined) label), which may be uplink transmitpower constrained (e.g., due to design choices and/or regulations, amongvarious reasons), may be capable of power saving and/or greaterthroughput when performing relatively narrowband uplink communicationsin some scenarios, while being capable of greater throughput whenperforming relatively wideband uplink communications in other scenarios.For example, in cell edge or otherwise link budget challenged scenarios,such devices might not benefit from a larger uplink bandwidth, as thesignal conditions in conjunctions with total uplink transmit powerlimitations may result in similar or lower net throughput than if usinga narrower bandwidth in which the uplink transmit power can beconcentrated. In contrast, in good signal conditions, such devices mightbe able to obtain greater throughput using a larger uplink bandwidth(e.g., corresponding to a greater number of radio resources), e.g.,since the total uplink transmit power limitations may not substantiallyimpact the ability of the base station to successfully decode the uplinktransmissions in good signal conditions. Note, however, that if there isrelatively little uplink data to be transmitted, it may be beneficialfor a wireless device to operate in a narrower uplink bandwidth even ingood signal conditions, e.g., as such operation may reduce the powerconsumption by the wireless device and allow a greater proportion ofradio resources to be allocated by the base station to other devices(e.g., to provide more resources to devices with greater uplink trafficneeds and/or to provide resources to a greater number of devices).

Thus, as one possible example, according to one set of embodiments, fora given (“first”) device type, the uplink bandwidth allocation may beselected from a “narrowband” uplink bandwidth allocation or a “wideband”uplink bandwidth allocation. The wideband bandwidth allocation may beselected if an expected upcoming uplink data volume from the wirelessdevice is above a data volume threshold and if the cellularcommunication link is currently experiencing good signal conditions. Thenarrowband bandwidth allocation may alternatively be selected if anexpected upcoming uplink data volume from the wireless device is belowthe data volume threshold or if the cellular communication link is notcurrently experiencing good signal conditions. Note that this example isprovided for illustrative purposes and is not intended to be limiting;any number of other uplink and downlink bandwidth allocation selectionalgorithms, potentially including variations and/or alternatives to thisexample with respect to the number of possible bandwidth allocationchoices, the conditions under which any possible bandwidth allocationchoice is selected, and/or any of various other aspects, are alsopossible.

As noted above, the uplink bandwidth allocation for the wireless deviceand the downlink bandwidth allocation for the wireless device mayinclude different amounts of bandwidth. For example, the downlinkbandwidth allocation may be larger than the uplink bandwidth allocation,or vice versa. It may also be possible that the uplink bandwidthallocation and the downlink bandwidth allocation include the same amountof bandwidth, according to some embodiments.

In 506, the base station may provide indications of the uplink anddownlink bandwidth allocations to the wireless device. The indicationsmay be provided in any of a variety of ways, potentially including butnot limited to a radio resource control (RRC) information element (IE)or a media access control (MAC) control element (CE). For example, asone possibility, the base station may provide indications of the uplinkbandwidth allocation and the downlink bandwidth allocation bytransmitting a RRCConnnectionreconfiguration message to the wirelessdevice, which may include a field specified for indicating the uplinkbandwidth allocation and another field specified for indicating thedownlink bandwidth allocation.

In 508, the base station and the wireless device may communicate usingthe uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations. As previously noted, theuplink and downlink bandwidth allocations may represent maximum theuplink and downlink bandwidth with which the base station and thewireless device may communicate, at least according to some embodiments.Thus, according to some embodiments, the base station may allocate radioresources corresponding to smaller amounts of bandwidth than theallocated uplink and downlink bandwidths in certain radio frames and/orsubframes within a radio frame, but may not allocate radio resourcescorresponding to larger amounts of bandwidth than the allocated uplinkand downlink bandwidths at any given time.

For example, the base station may provide downlink data to the wirelessdevice such that a portion of the transmission by the base stationintended for the wireless device encompasses at most the allocateddownlink bandwidth, and may receive uplink data from the wireless deviceon a bandwidth that is at most the allocated uplink bandwidth. In otherwords, the actual bandwidth portions used from the allocated bandwidthmay be less than the allocated downlink bandwidth and/or uplinkbandwidth (e.g., depending on resource assignment variations from radioframe to radio frame and/or potentially from subframe to subframe withina radio frame), at least according to some embodiments.

Either or both of the uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations may bedynamically adjusted by the base station. For example, according to someembodiments, the base station may determine, e.g., at a time subsequentto initially providing the uplink and downlink bandwidth allocations tothe wireless device, to modify one or both of the uplink bandwidthallocation or the downlink bandwidth allocation for the wireless device.The base station may determine to modify the uplink and/or downlinkbandwidth allocation for the wireless device based on changingconditions, as one possibility. For example, as one possibility, thebase station might determine to modify the uplink bandwidth allocationfor the wireless device based on receiving a buffer status reportindicating an expected upcoming uplink data volume that is below a datavolume threshold when a buffer status report on which the previousuplink bandwidth allocation was at least partially based indicated anexpected upcoming uplink data volume that is above the data volumethreshold, or vice versa. As another possibility, the base station mightdetermine to modify the uplink bandwidth allocation for the wirelessdevice based on determining that signal conditions for the wirelessdevice have changed (e.g., channel conditions have crossed a channelcondition threshold relative to the channel conditions on which theprevious uplink bandwidth allocation was at least partially based). Insuch an instance, the base station may provide an indication of themodified uplink bandwidth allocation and/or the modified downlinkbandwidth allocation to the wireless device. The base station and thewireless device may then communicate using the modified bandwidthallocations.

Thus, the uplink and/or downlink bandwidth allocations for a wirelessdevice may be considered semi-static, according to some embodiments.This may allow for the wireless device to configure itstransceiver/radio components to the appropriate bandwidth for uplink anddownlink communication for sufficient time periods to potentiallybenefit from narrowband operations, while retaining the flexibility tooccasionally adjust the uplink and/or downlink bandwidth allocationsbased on radio conditions, traffic patterns, and/or otherconsiderations. This may in turn allow for better performance and/ormore efficient operation (e.g., potentially including reduced powerconsumption) by the wireless device, as well as more efficient overallsystem operation, at least according to some embodiments.

FIG. 6 and Additional Information

FIG. 6 and the following additional information are provided as beingillustrative of further considerations and possible implementationdetails of the method of FIG. 5, and are not intended to be limiting tothe disclosure as a whole. Numerous variations and alternatives to thedetails provided herein below are possible and should be consideredwithin the scope of the disclosure.

In 3GPP Release 13 (Rel-13), enhancements for MTC (Machine-TypeCommunication) are introduced, including enhancements for low complexityMTC devices and coverage enhancements (CE) for MTC UEs. One technicalarea of the enhancements includes support of Bandwidth Reduced LowComplexity (BL) UEs. To support such UEs, a new Rel-13 low complexity UEcategory/type is introduced, i.e., category M1 for MTC operation in anyLTE duplex mode (full duplex (FD) frequency division duplexing (FDD),half duplex (HD) FDD, time division duplexing (TDD)). Such UEs only needto support 1.4 MHz (6 physical resource blocs (PRBs)) RF bandwidth indownlink and uplink. Such bandwidth reduced UEs should be able tooperate within any LTE system bandwidth. Another technical area of theenhancements includes support of UEs in Enhanced Coverage.

In 3GPP Release 14 (Rel-14), work on further enhancements for MTC(FeMTC) UE is ongoing, e.g., in order to achieve higher data rates forMTC UEs. One of the key aspects for higher data rates is to supportlarger physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)/physical uplink sharedchannel (PUSCH) channel bandwidth.

For example, as one possibility, for Rel-14 BL UE CE mode A and CE modeB, the largest maximum UE channel bandwidth for PDSCH in RRC connectedmode may be 5 MHz (25 PRBs). For Rel-14 BL UE CE mode A, the largestmaximum UE channel bandwidth for PUSCH in RRC connected mode may be 5MHz (25 PRBs). For Rel-14 non-BL UE CE mode A and CE mode B, the largestmaximum UE channel bandwidth for PDSCH in RRC connected mode may be 5 or20 MHz. For Rel-14 non-BL UE CE mode A, the largest maximum UE channelbandwidth for PUSCH in RRC connected mode may be 5 or 20 MHz. This widerbandwidth operation may be enabled by the base station (e.g., referredto as eNB in LTE contexts).

The MTC-Physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH) for Rel-14 may followthe Rel-13 design, which may imply that it can be decoded by a UEoperating in narrowband operation (6RB)

In current 3GPP protocols, transmission bandwidths for both DL and ULare identical, for both FDD and TDD. For example, 3GPP specificationdocuments for RRC recite:

-   -   ul-Bandwidth    -   Parameter: Uplink bandwidth, see TS 36.101 [42, table 5.6-1].        For TDD, the parameter is absent and it is equal to downlink        bandwidth. If absent for FDD, apply the same value as applies        for the downlink bandwidth.

For Rel-14 FeMTC UEs, a maximum channel bandwidth of 5 HMz will besupported for PDSCH and PUSCH. However, in some scenarios (e.g., linkbudget challenged scenarios or cell edge scenarios), even if the maximum5 MHz channel bandwidth is supported, FeMTC devices will not benefitfrom a larger bandwidth in the UL, whereas in the DL, a larger bandwidthtranslates to more power. According, an eNB scheduler might detect thisscenario and allocate a smaller number of PRBs in such a scenariothrough an MPDCCH grant. However, it cannot be guaranteed, for example,that the number of PRBs will always be less than 6PRBs in everysub-frame. This dynamic behavior will prevent the UE from operating in apower-efficient transceiver mode.

Note also that larger than needed/optimal bandwidth for FeMTC UE mayalso result in lower system capacity efficiency, as resources could bemultiplexed between FeMTC devices and legacy UEs

Example scenarios in which a narrower bandwidth for uplink than fordownlink would be preferable could include: when buffered UL data inFeMTC devices is small, e.g., below a certain threshold; when UL radioconditions for a FeMTC device are poor or not stable; when a FeMTCdevice operates at cell edge; or any of various other link budgetlimited scenarios, according to various embodiments.

As noted above, typically in 3GPP systems, the system bandwidth isdefined for both UL and DL. The UE needs to operate in the bandwidthsignaled by the eNB. However, as an alternative, allowing asymmetricbandwidth allocation between UL and DL can help facilitate an efficientimplementation of the UE transceiver that can potentially benefit itsbattery life and/or throughput, and can potentially improve overallsystem resource use efficiency, at least according to some embodiments.

As used herein, asymmetric bandwidth allocation between UL and DL maymean that DL bandwidth and UL bandwidth allocated to the UE can bedifferent. The eNB may take any or all of the following factors, amongother possible factors, into consideration for bandwidth allocation: UEcategory/capability (noting that asymmetric bandwidth allocation couldalso be used whether UE categories for DL and UL are the same ordifferent); buffer status report (BSR) from UE; DL/UL traffic demandfrom higher layers; and/or measurements (e.g., as received from the UEand/or as measured directly by the eNB) that provide insight into theradio conditions experienced by the UE.

Such asymmetric bandwidth allocation to FeMTC devices can besemi-statically configured by eNB, e.g., via RRC signaling, as onepossibility. The semi-static nature of the configuration may allow abetter operation of the transceiver, e.g., that allows betterperformance and power consumption, at least according to someembodiments.

At least in some embodiments, the MPDCCH may follow the Rel-13 design,such that dynamic scheduling of PUSCH/PDSCH transmissions within theallocated bandwidth may remain possible. Note also that such asymmetricbandwidth allocation can apply to any or all of FDD UEs, HD-FDD UEs, orTDD UEs, among various possibilities.

Thus, if the UE knows in advance that the UL bandwidth is limited, itmay be able to operate in a power optimized mode that may improve thebattery life while potentially also mitigating thermal issues.

Any of various possible techniques may be used to signal UL and DL BSallocations to a UE. Some such techniques may involve one or more 3GPPprotocol modifications to support such signaling. For example, as onepossibility, a new or existing RRC information element (IE) could bedefined or modified to have the potential to signal uplink and downlinkbandwidth allocations separately. One such IE that could be modified tocontain such information could include a RadioResourceConfigCommon IE,e.g., as currently defined in 3GPP 36.331. For example, a branch of theinformation element for PDSCH configuration in theRRCConnectionreconfiguration message could be introduced in Rel-14,e.g., “DL-Bandwidth-r14” in “DL-Configuration-r14”. Similarly, a branchof the information element for PUSCH configuration in theRRCConnectionreconfiguration message could be introduced in Rel-14,e.g., “UL-Bandwidth-r14” in “UL-Configuration-r14”. As anotherpossibility, the 3GPP specification documents may be modified to removethe restriction that DL and UL transmission bandwidth have the samevalue for both FDD and TDD.

As another possibility, 3GPP 36.306 may be modified to support flexibleDL/UL category combinations and maximum UE channel bandwidths that canbe set to different values for uplink and downlink, for example inaccordance with the table portion illustrated in FIG. 6. As shown, inthis example table portion, entries with the same maximum UE channelbandwidth for both downlink and uplink are possible, as are entries withdifferent maximum UE channel bandwidths for downlink and uplink. Notethat any number of additional entries, as well as variations andalternatives to the shown entries, are also possible, e.g., potentiallywith different maximum UE channel bandwidth DL and UL values fordifferent UE UL and DL categories.

In addition to the above-described exemplary embodiments, furtherembodiments of the present disclosure may be realized in any of variousforms. For example, some embodiments may be realized as acomputer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or acomputer system. Other embodiments may be realized using one or morecustom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Still other embodimentsmay be realized using one or more programmable hardware elements such asFPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable memory mediummay be configured so that it stores program instructions and/or data,where the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, causethe computer system to perform a method, e.g., any of a methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any subset of any of the methodembodiments described herein, or, any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a device (e.g., a UE 106 or 107) may be configuredto include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium,where the memory medium stores program instructions, where the processoris configured to read and execute the program instructions from thememory medium, where the program instructions are executable toimplement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or,any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or, anysubset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or, anycombination of such subsets). The device may be realized in any ofvarious forms.

Although the embodiments above have been described in considerabledetail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent tothose skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated.It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace allsuch variations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. A base station, comprising: a radio; and aprocessor coupled to the radio and configured to cause the base stationto: provide a cell according to a cellular system bandwidth; establish acellular communication link with a wireless device on the cell;determine a largest maximum physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)bandwidth for the wireless device and a largest maximum physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) bandwidth for the wireless device,wherein said determining is based on one or more of a device category ofthe wireless device or a coverage enhancement mode, wherein at least oneof the respective largest maximum bandwidths are equal to or greaterthan a narrowband bandwidth of 6 resource blocks; receive informationfrom the wireless device; indicate, to the wireless device via anRRCConnectionReconfiguration message, at least one of an uplinkbandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device or adownlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for the wirelessdevice, wherein the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message is configuredto cause the wireless device to operate in a mode according to the atleast one of the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation forthe wireless device or the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device, wherein the uplink bandwidthallocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device is equal to orless than the largest maximum PUSCH bandwidth for the wireless deviceand the downlink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device is equal to or less than the largest maximum PDSCHbandwidth for the wireless device, wherein the at least one of theuplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless deviceor the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device is based on the information from the wireless device,wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device and the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCHoperation for the wireless device are different sizes; indicate radioresources for PDSCH and PUSCH communications to the wireless deviceusing a narrowband machine type communication (MTC)-Physical downlinkcontrol channel (MPDCCH), wherein the narrowband MPDCCH corresponds to abandwidth of 6 resource blocks, wherein the radio resources for thePDSCH and PUSCH communications correspond to amounts of bandwidth thatare less than or equal to the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCHoperation for the wireless device and the uplink bandwidth allocationfor PUSCH operation for the wireless device, respectively; and performPDSCH and PUSCH communications with the wireless device on the radioresources for PDSCH and PUSCH communications.
 2. The base station ofclaim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the basestation to: receive a buffer status report from the wireless device,wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device is based at least in part on the buffer status report.3. The base station of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to cause the base station to: receive channel qualityinformation for the cellular communication link from the wirelessdevice, wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation forthe wireless device is based at least in part on the channel qualityinformation for the cellular communication link received from thewireless device.
 4. The base station of claim 1, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the base station to: perform one or morechannel quality measurements for the cellular communication link withthe wireless device, wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device is based at least in part on the oneor more channel quality measurements for the cellular communication linkwith the wireless device.
 5. The base station of claim 1, wherein theuplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless deviceis selected from at least a narrowband uplink bandwidth allocation and awideband uplink bandwidth allocation, wherein the wideband uplinkbandwidth allocation is selected if an expected upcoming uplink datavolume from the wireless device is above a data volume threshold and ifthe cellular communication link is currently experiencing good signalconditions, wherein the narrowband uplink bandwidth allocation isselected if the expected upcoming uplink data volume from the wirelessdevice is below the data volume threshold or if the cellularcommunication link is not currently experiencing good signal conditions.6. The base station of claim 1, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured to cause the base station to: determine to modify the uplinkbandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device; andprovide an indication of the modified uplink bandwidth allocation forPUSCH operation for the wireless device to the wireless device.
 7. Thebase station of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured tocause the base station to: determine to modify the downlink bandwidthallocation for PDSCH operation for the wireless device; and provide anindication of the modified downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCHoperation for the wireless device to the wireless device.
 8. Anapparatus, comprising: a processor configured to cause a base stationto: provide a cell according to a cellular system bandwidth; establish acellular communication link with a wireless device on the cell;determine a largest maximum physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)bandwidth for the wireless device and a largest maximum physicaldownlink shared channel (PDSCH) bandwidth for the wireless device,wherein said determining is based on one or more of a device category ofthe wireless device or a coverage enhancement mode, wherein at least oneof the respective largest maximum bandwidths are equal to or greaterthan a narrowband bandwidth of 6 resource blocks; receive informationfrom the wireless device; indicate, to the wireless device via anRRCConnectionReconfiguration message, at least one of an uplinkbandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device or adownlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for the wirelessdevice, wherein the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message is configuredto cause the wireless device to operate in a mode according to the atleast one of the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation forthe wireless device or the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device, wherein the uplink bandwidthallocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device is equal to orless than the largest maximum PUSCH bandwidth for the wireless deviceand the downlink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device is equal to or less than the largest maximum PDSCHbandwidth for the wireless device, wherein the at least one of theuplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless deviceor the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device is based on the information from the wireless device;indicate radio resources for PDSCH and PUSCH communications to thewireless device using a narrowband machine type communication(MTC)-Physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH), wherein the narrowbandMPDCCH corresponds to a bandwidth of 6 resource blocks, wherein theradio resources for the PDSCH and PUSCH communications correspond toamounts of bandwidth that are less than or equal to the downlinkbandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for the wireless device and theuplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device,respectively; and perform PDSCH and PUSCH communications with thewireless device on the radio resources for PDSCH and PUSCHcommunications.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the uplinkbandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device isselected based on one or more of: an uplink device category of thewireless device; an expected amount of upcoming uplink data from thewireless device; or a channel quality of a communication channel onwhich the cellular communication link is established.
 10. The apparatusof claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured cause the basestation to select an uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation forthe wireless device from at least a narrowband uplink bandwidthallocation and a wideband uplink bandwidth allocation, wherein thewideband uplink bandwidth allocation is selected if the expected amountof upcoming uplink data from the wireless device is above a datathreshold and if the channel quality is above a channel qualitythreshold, wherein the narrowband uplink bandwidth allocation isselected if the expected amount of upcoming uplink data from thewireless device is below the data threshold or if the channel quality isbelow the channel quality threshold.
 11. The apparatus of claim 8,wherein the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device is selected based on one or more of: a downlink devicecategory of the wireless device; an expected amount of upcoming downlinkdata for the wireless device; or a channel quality of a communicationchannel on which the cellular communication link is established.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 8, wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device and the downlink bandwidth allocationfor PDSCH operation for the wireless device are different bandwidths.13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is furtherconfigured cause the base station to: determine to modify the uplinkbandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device; andprovide an indication of the modified uplink bandwidth allocation forPUSCH operation for the wireless device to the wireless device.
 14. Awireless device, comprising: a radio; and a processor coupled to theradio, wherein the processor is configured to cause the wireless deviceto: establish a cellular communication link with a base station; provideinformation to the base station; receive, from the base station, anRRCConnectionReconfiguration message indicating at least one of anuplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless deviceor a downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for the wirelessdevice, wherein the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message is configuredto cause the wireless device to operate in a mode according to the atleast one of the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation forthe wireless device or the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device, wherein the uplink bandwidthallocation for PUSCH operation for the wireless device is equal to orless than a largest maximum PUSCH bandwidth for the wireless device andthe downlink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wirelessdevice is equal to or less than a largest maximum PDSCH bandwidth forthe wireless device; receive, from the base station a narrowband machinetype communication (MTC)-Physical downlink control channel (MPDCCH)indicating radio resources for PDSCH and PUSCH communications, whereinthe narrowband MPDCCH corresponds to a bandwidth of 6 resource blocks,wherein the radio resources for the PDSCH and PUSCH communicationscorrespond to amounts of bandwidth that are less than or equal to thedownlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for the wirelessdevice and the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device, respectively; and perform PDSCH and PUSCHcommunications with the base station on the radio resources for PDSCHand PUSCH communications.
 15. The wireless device of claim 14, whereinthe uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wirelessdevice and the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device are different sizes.
 16. The wireless device of claim14, wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for thewireless device comprises the largest maximum PUSCH bandwidth for thewireless device, wherein the processor is further configured to causethe wireless device to operate in a narrowband uplink mode or a widebanduplink mode based on the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operationfor the wireless device, wherein the downlink bandwidth allocation forPDSCH operation for the wireless device comprises a maximum downlinkcommunication bandwidth, wherein the wireless device is configured tooperate in a narrowband downlink mode or a wideband downlink mode basedon the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device.
 17. The wireless device of claim 14, wherein theprocessor is further configured to cause the wireless device to: receivean indication of a modified uplink bandwidth allocation; and communicatewith the base station according to the modified uplink bandwidthallocation.
 18. The wireless device of claim 14, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the wireless device to: receive anindication of a modified downlink bandwidth allocation; and communicatewith the base station according to the modified downlink bandwidthallocation.
 19. The wireless device of claim 14, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the wireless device to: perform one ormore channel quality measurements for the cellular communication linkwith the base station; and provide channel quality information for thecellular communication link to the base station, wherein one or more ofthe uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCH operation for the wirelessdevice or the downlink bandwidth allocation for PDSCH operation for thewireless device are based at least in part on the channel qualityinformation.
 20. The wireless device of claim 14, wherein the processoris further configured to cause the wireless device to: determine anamount of uplink data buffered by the wireless device; and provide abuffer status report to the base station, wherein the buffer statusreport provides an indication of the amount of uplink data buffered bythe wireless device, wherein the uplink bandwidth allocation for PUSCHoperation for the wireless device is based at least in part on thebuffer status report.